Rekindling commitment: reflections from a pastoral educator enmeshed in direct support professional workforce development and person centered supports.
Put values and relationships first, then layer on smart checks, to keep direct support staff engaged and present.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Gaventa (2008) wrote a personal story about working in disability services. The author saw staff burn out from too many rule checks. The paper argues we should train staff around shared values, not just rules.
It is not a lab study. It is one expert’s reflection. The goal was to wake up leaders who only watch compliance scores.
What they found
The paper found that constant compliance focus drains heart from the work. Staff start to feel like robots. They quit faster and care less.
When training puts people first, staff stay longer and feel proud of their work.
How this fits with other research
Newcomb et al. (2019) built a game-style training system. Points and leaderboards kept 130 staff excited to learn. This shows one fun way to add the values spark Gaventa (2008) asked for.
Mian et al. (2026) ran an 8-week course plus year-long apprenticeship. Staff gained skill and said they wanted to stay. Their data back up the claim that deeper, person-centred training lifts commitment.
Voss et al. (2021) co-designed end-of-life training with people who have ID. Staff felt more confident after the course. It proves you can mix heart and skill in one program.
Reyes et al. (2025) used secret spot-checks and feedback to keep staff sharp. This looks like old-style compliance, but the hidden checks stop once staff hit mastery. The method keeps quality without the soul-crushing watchfulness Gaventa (2008) warned about.
Why it matters
You can keep rules and still protect staff heart. Add game layers, apprenticeships, or co-design sessions to your next in-service. Start each meeting with a client story, not a violation list. You will likely see fuller seats at next month’s training and fewer goodbye emails.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Services with people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are increasingly structured by regulations, policies and licensing standards by public funding entities. The key responsibility for direct care staff often becomes that of compliance with all the rules and regulations. METHOD: The impact of an increasing focus on compliance with regulations in the systems of services and supports for people with ID is explored along with the absence of focus on professional commitment and relationships. This exploration is done through a review of literature and also anecdotes and observations from 30 years of professional experience in working with direct care staff. RESULTS: Whether the source for enhanced regulation is concern about health and safety, honouring rights, meeting laws and/or an underlying fear that we cannot rely on the caregivers because of the turnover or lack of skill; we end up building a system based more and more on compliance, on regulations, programme and behavioural plans and competencies, without the same kind of concern or attention for people who are doing the caring, their motivation and what they need. One of the hypotheses and conclusions of this article is that the focus on compliance diminishes professional competence and commitment, and contributes both to staff disillusionment and to the rapid turnover. CONCLUSIONS: As recruitment and turnover in the direct support professional workforce become ever more difficult problems, the newer focus on person-centred planning, self-directed supports and workforce development have both possibilities and problems in enhancing staff commitment in relationships with people they support. The importance of enhancing and supporting commitment also calls for new forms of professional identity and education that recapture the language and habits of commitment while also providing opportunities for staff to reflect on the values, visions and commitments that support their work.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2008 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2008.01070.x